Speeding up the land acquisition process for major infrastructure works in the district will be a focus area for the newly appointed Pune district collector Chandrakant Dalvi who took over from former district collector Prabhakar Deshmukh on Monday. With nearly 2,000 cases pending with 17 land acquisition officers, Dalvi plans to speed up the "disposal of the cases' in the district. "I have already told my land acquisition officers to brief me about the cases and my priority would be to speed it up,' he told the media on his first day in office.

To commemorate the World Environment Day on June 5, Commonwealth Youth Games Pune 2008 is planning to host nature conservation activities. "With growing concerns over global warming and depleting green cover, the aim is to enhance public attention and action about nature conservation and environmentalprotection,'said a press release. On June 5 the city would witness a Tree plantation drive where 25000 saplings will be planted at Vetal Tekdi, Paud Road.

In order to increase the green cover and maintain balance between nature and the huge development in its jurisdiction, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has sought the standing committee permission for signing an agreement with the Forest department for 325 hectare forest land spread in eight merged villages in PMC.

The Armed Forces Medical College in Pune is mapping mites to prevent

If cleared, it will study impact of climate conditions on crops, minerals Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's hometown Baramati in Pune district would in all probability house the ambitious National Institute for Abiotic Stress proposed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). This would be the first research institute of its kind to study the impact of climate conditions on crops and minerals in the country.

Khed MP to take up issue of 474 acres acquired for Dehu Road missile project in 2002 with Antony The June 3 meeting that Khed MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil has sought with Union Defence Minister A K Antony is a big-ticket day for about 100 farmers of Pune district whose 474 acres were acquired by the Ministry of Defence Ministry in 2002 for the ambitious missile project in Shelarwadi, Dehu Road. At stake is Rs 220 crore

The Prayavaran Mitra Program by CYG Pune, 2008 in association with United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP ) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) had on Thursday organised the "Paryavaran Mitra Din " at Bhairavnath Mandir-Baner especially to educate the residents of the fringe villages. The programme has support from University of Pune, Sarathi, Dada Kondke Foundation, Vasundhara Swatchta Abhiyan and Jetking Info, stated a press release.

In view of the emergence of the avian influenza epidemic in South East Asia region, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) will host a meeting on strengthening influenza diagnosis and networking in South East Asia in Pune from May 13. Dr A C Mishra, Director, National Institute of Virology said that the meeting was being conducted by the World Health Organisation-SEARO to improve diagnostic capacity of laboratories in the South East Asia region. National Influenza Centers are the cornerstone of global influenza surveillance.

Kathewadi village in Baramati taluka, hometown of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Pune district, will soon become the only village in Pune to switch over to compact flourescent lamps (CFL). In two months time, the entire village will do away with the sodium vapour lamps and tubelights and switch over to the energy conserving CFL.

Scientists of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) have discovered a huge 250 mm long lizard, which is said to be the largest in the common gecko family, in the ghats of Pune's Junnar taluka. According to scientist Varad Giri, the lizard was first photographed two years ago by Pune-based herpetologist Ashok Captain, who forwarded the photos to BNHS for identification. "The new gecko has some distinctive features including its large size and unusual scales on the body,' Giri said. So far, a 220-230 mm long spotted rock gecko was the largest lizard discovered in India.